The First Lady recently announced that she will launch a major initiative on childhood obesity in the next few weeks and has asked HHS to play a key role. Today, HHS released The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation. In her first release to the nation, Dr. Benjamin highlights the alarming trend of overweight and obese Americans, and asks them to join her in a grassroots effort to commit to changes that promote the health and wellness of our families and communities.

“The surge in obesity in this country is nothing short of a public health crisis that is threatening our children, our families, and our future,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “In fact, the health consequences are so severe that medical experts have warned that our children could be on track to live shorter lives than their parents. The paper released today is an incredibly important step in directing the Nation’s attention to solving the obesity epidemic and we do not have a moment to waste.”

The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled among adults and has tripled among children and adolescents from 1980 to 2004. Currently, two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese. Increased food intake, a sedentary lifestyle, and environments that make it difficult for people to make healthy choices but easy to consume extra calories, all contribute to the epidemic of overweight and obesity. This epidemic threatens the progress we have made in increasing Americans’ quality and years of healthy life.

“Curbing the obesity epidemic requires committed people and organizations across the nation working together to take action,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Today, we outline a vision for the nation that requires parents, neighborhoods, the medical community, employers, schools and individuals to take a coordinated and comprehensive approach to combating overweight and obesity.”

Additionally, many racial and ethnic groups and geographic regions of the United States are disproportionately affected. For instance, African American girls and Hispanic boys are more likely to be obese compared to non-Hispanic whites. Among adults, American Indian and Alaskan native adults have the highest rates of obesity. The sobering impact of these numbers is reflected in the nation’s concurrent epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases. Researchers warn that if trends are not reversed, our children will be seriously afflicted with medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease in early adulthood.

“Americans will be more likely to change their behavior if they have a meaningful reward - something more than just reaching a certain weight or dress size,” said Dr. Benjamin. “The real reward is invigorating, energizing, joyous health. It is a level of health that allows people to embrace each day and live their lives to the fullest without disease or disability.”

The recommendations in The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation include:

Improving our communities – Neighborhoods and communities should become actively involved in creating healthier environments. The availability of supermarkets, outdoor recreational facilities and the limitation of advertisements of less healthy foods and beverages are all examples of ways to create a healthier living environment.

Healthy Choices and Healthy Home Environments – Change starts with the individual choices Americans make each day for themselves, their families and those around them. Reducing the consumption of sodas and juices with added sugars; eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains; limiting television time; and being more physically active help us achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Creating Healthy Child Care Settings – It is estimated that more than 12 million children ages 0-6 receive some form of child care on a regular basis from someone other than their parents. Parents should talk with their child care providers about changes to promote their children’s health.

Creating Healthy Schools – To help students develop life-long health habits, schools should provide appealing healthy food options including fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, water and low-fat beverages. School systems should also require nutrition standards and daily physical education for students.

Creating Healthy Work Sites – Employers can implement wellness programs that promote healthy eating in cafeterias, encourage physical activity through group classes and create incentives for employees to participate.

Mobilizing Medical Communities – Medical care providers must make it a priority to teach their patients about the importance of good health. Doctors and other health care providers are often the most trusted source of health information and are powerful role models for healthy lifestyle habits.

To view The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation, visit www.surgeongeneral.gov
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at
http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Preschoolers have a lot of energy, and they use it in a more organized way than when they were toddlers. Instead of just running around in the backyard, a preschooler has the physical skills and coordination to ride a tricycle or chase a butterfly.

Preschoolers are also discovering what it means to play with a friend instead of just alongside another child, as toddlers do. By being around other kids, a preschooler gains important social skills, such as sharing and taking turns. Despite occasional disputes, preschoolers learn to cooperate and interact during play.

Helping Kids Learn New Skills

Preschoolers develop important motor skills as they grow. New skills your preschooler may be showing off include hopping, READ MORE

After x-rays, ultrasounds and visits to the pediatric urologist and pediatric GI, it was determined that her issue was strictly digestive! Her kidneys had become swollen to the point of improper function due to constipation. Believe it!

Initially, the treatment was somewhat aggressive. I had wanted to treat her based on diet alone, but her urologist cautioned that her condition was at a point severe enough that medication was the most appropriate first step with maintenance via diet and exercise becoming the lifestyle once the immediate conditioned was resolved. So, as kidneys and digestive track were once again functioning properly, the charge of maintaining her good health through diet and exercise fell to me. Luckily, she’s not a picky eater, so I didn’t think my job would be that tough. I was wrong!

I’ve discovered that, even if you have the best eater in the world (which this daughter is), she may still suffer from tummy-aches and other discomforts due to constipation. I try to prevent her problems by keeping myself educated, controlling as much of her diet as possible, building meaningful physical activity into her day and employing dietary fiber supplements. So far, our daily lifestyle choices have been paying off!

While we had been making headway, we were still very pleased to have been recently introduced to Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies. My daughter loves these gummy supplements, and it’s much easier to have her munch on one or two of the yummy Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies, than it is to mix a powdered supplement into a food or beverage for her (since the taste is always altered a bit). Plus…they really serve their purpose! The Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies help keep her “regular”, consequently, keeping her tummy-aches to a minimum! What a relief for mom!

To learn more about the Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies, please continue reading or just click here…

Introduced in 2009, Pedia-Lax® Fiber Gummies, are a daily fiber supplement made just for kids by Fleet®, a trusted brand for digestive health for more than 100 years.  So many kids lack the proper amount of fiber in their diets, but wrinkle their little noses at the kinds of foods that will add it in (my kids love to say “Mom, I don’t WANT brown bread!”).  Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies are a great, tasty and sugar-free way to get some much-needed fiber into your little ones’ diets.  I’ve included some important info below and hope you will consider reviewing the product and telling your readers about it.

In 2009 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) significantly increased the recommended daily fiber intake standards, far above the previous “age plus five” rule. In fact, today’s updated guidelines recommend 25 grams of fiber per day for four-year-old children. But how do we meet these requirements and get our children to eat high in fiber foods?

Now there’s a delicious daily fiber supplement to help kids ages 2-11 maintain better digestive health and stay regular.* The penguin-shaped, great tasting Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies are sugar-free, calorie-free, gluten-free and made with natural fruit flavors. With a recommended serving of three gummies every day, (equal to ½ cup of broccoli!), Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies are a great way to supplement the fiber found in fruits, vegetables and other fiber-rich foods in your child’s daily diet. It’s a great solution to help bridge the gap between the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended amount of fiber and the fiber that kids actually consume in their daily diet.  Bonus…Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies are dentist approved!!!

GKM readers can visit http://www.fibergummies.com/ where they will get a $1.00 off coupon and use the “store locator” to see where the product is sold in their area. And, because we know getting kids to eat foods high in fiber without complaint is a challenge faced by many moms, the Fiber Gummies website also offers helpful tips on how to incorporate a delicious, high-fiber diet into a busy family’s lifestyle with tips for meal planning and easy-to-make recipes on the website, too.
 
* This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Childhood obesity is on the rise, and it is now more important than ever for parents to teach their children at an early age how to eat healthy and learn to love those healthy foods. That is where Chef Joe Ciminera comes in.

Chef Ciminera has found much success working under some of the nation’s top chefs including Daniel Boulud, Christian Doulevere, Pierre Manor, Mike Depirito and Jean Louis Pallidan as well as working at world renowned restaurants such as Le Cirque, Les Celebrites, Le Petite Bijou and Carmines. He is also the chef and host of Taste This! TV, a nationally televised cooking show on PBS. All of his experiences have helped him gain a foundation for his work which has informed his current philosophy: “there are no rules in cooking”.

The Food For Kids seven day meal plan is an approach to get kids on the right track to eating healthier. The plan is broken down for each day of the week and then again by each meal. This allows parents and children to follow along with chef Ciminera as he shows you how to prepare these easy, delicious and nutritious meals and snacks. Chef Ciminera will teach you that often it is not about completely changing the way your child eats, but substituting certain ingredients for healthier ones that many kids never even notice. After spending two years trying out his recipes on kids throughout the country, the final result is over 30 kid approved recipes that are easy to make and healthy.

After consulting with children across the country, Chef Ciminera understands what minor changes need to be made in order to get a child to eat healthier. The first is to involve the child in the food preparation. Because the children have helped make the meal, they see eating it as their reward. Children also tend to eat foods that are colorful and fun. Chef Ciminera discusses how to accomplish fun and colorful meals and all the small changes that make a big difference in the way your child eats and their overall health.

To learnmore about Chef Ciminera, his television show and his number one concern, visit http://www.foodforkids.info/ 

Also, Chef Ciminera has shared some recipes with the GKM visitors. Click here to try Chef Ciminera’s kid-tested and approved, healthy family recipes.

Researchers at Princeton University recently made a remarkable discovery about the brains of rats that exercise. Some of their neurons respond differently to stress than the neurons of slothful rats. Scientists have known for some time that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells (neurons) but not how, precisely, these neurons might be functionally different from other brain cells.

In the experiment, preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of rodents was not allowed to exercise. Then all of the rats swam in cold water, which they don’t like to do. Afterward, the scientists examined the animals’ brains. They found that the stress of the swimming activated neurons in all of the brains. (The researchers could tell which neurons were activated because the cells expressed specific genes in response to the stress.) But the youngest brain cells in the running rats, the cells that the scientists assumed were created by running, were less likely to express the genes. They generally remained quiet. The “cells born from running,” the researchers concluded, appeared to have been “specifically buffered from Read More…

Two recent experiments hit rather close to home at this time of year. In the first, published last year in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, researchers divided mice into two groups. One rested comfortably in their cages. The other ran on little treadmills until they were exhausted. This continued for three days. The mice were then exposed to an influenza virus. After a few days, more of the mice who’d exhausted themselves running came down with the flu than the control mice. They also had more severe symptoms.

In the second experiment, published in the same journal, scientists from the University of Illinois and other schools first infected laboratory mice with flu. One group then rested; a second group ran for a leisurely 20 or 30 minutes, an easy jog for a mouse; the third group ran for a taxing two and a half hours. Each group repeated this routine for three days, until they began to show flu symptoms. The flu bug used in this experiment is devastating to rodents, and more than half of the sedentary mice died. But only 12 percent of the gently jogging mice passed away. Meanwhile, an eye-popping 70 percent of the mice in the group that had run for hours died, and even those that survived were more debilitated and sick than the control group.

Is this good news or bad? This is a particularly relevant question as two important human events converge: the peaking of the fall marathon and other sports seasons and the simultaneous onset of the winter cold and flu term. Scientists are diligently…READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Just yesterday two of my children, independently of each other, exclaimed, “It smells like snow!” While it has not yet snowed, and no sign of snow is in the immediate forecast, it sure has gotten cold with that familiar Winter bite to the early Autumn air!

One thing I love about Fall is the ability to bring back the “cozy”. You know about cold weather cozies…all the yummy comfort foods we love to make and eat, the snuggly socks and sweaters, the blankets on the couch or at the football games, the fires in the pit out back or in the family room fireplace…

Don’t get me wrong, I hate the cold weather! I have, however, learned to embrace certain aspects of these cooler and ridiculously cold seasons. I attribute this more positive outlook to being a mom and having to find a silver lining in everything for the sake of the children; this practice has certainly helped me to enjoy life more too!

So, while we realize that there are many things to love about the change of seasons from warmer to cooler, we must recognize and face the dangers of the winter season (and I’m not talking about frostbite; you’re on your own with that stuff). The cool-weather-cozies, lovely as they are, can be a pathos into ill health.

We certainly tend to become lazier during these months mainly because it’s just too cold and/or wet to go outside and play or walk or run. We may also become lazier due to mild, seasonal depression; less sunlight, less incentive to get up and go out, less energy. And then there’s that wonderful comfort food; sometimes it just sits in our bellies and whispers, “take a nap.”

At Get Kids Moving! we’ve gathered some ideas for keeping yourself, your kids, your family healthy during the cold weather months. Beat the blues and the blahs of these wonderful seasons; enjoy and make the BEST:

• Activity: find ways to build physical activity into your days
  • Join a gym.
    • There are some Family Gyms out there now that get the kids active too instead of just babysitting them and letting them watch TV and color. Check for one in your neighborhood.
    • Many community recreation centers offer community gyms for adult members at a low annual rate and offer activities for kids.
  • Keep a basket of movement toys in the house for kids and grown-ups.
    • Jump-ropes: encourage kids to do 30 jumps/day; they’ll do 50-100 guaranteed! YOU do some jumps too.
    • Ankle-rope skipper thingy…you know, that thing they spin around one ankle and hop over with the other foot
    • Mini trampoline (A.K.A. Rebounder): get one with a handle; they also make small ones for real little jumpers (OK this can’t go in a basket, but you get the idea).
    • Colored tape: mark off an indoor hopscotch or some racing lines.
    • Make a chart.
    • Chart your own progress and/or the progress of the kids
    • Chart jumps/day, minutes moving, etc
    • Add stickers and healthy rewards to make it fun
  • Silly and Fun Indoor Ideas:
    • Run up and down the stairs (make contests)
    • Dance, dance, dance
    • See who can do the craziest exercise move the best or the most (like the fire hydrant, or belly button lifts…)
  • Go outside if you can; it’s a GREAT reason to have Hot Cocoa later!
    • If it’s not too cold, bundle up and head out.
    • The sun (even if you can’t see it) will provide you with some very necessary Vitamin D in just a few minutes!
    • Take a walk.
    • Collect leaves. Rake leaves.
    • Clean up litter left by litter-bugs.
    • Walk to the library or to the store.
    • Walk like a giant through the snow or leaves (but not your neighbor’s neatly raked leaves).
    • Put on snowshoes or cross country skis (FUN)!
    • Build a snowwoman
• Food: Balance out those scrumptious stews and pies…
  • Make Meatless Meals
    • Meatless chili
    • Hardy veggie or bean soups
    • Pasta dishes
  • Make Healthier Meaty Meals
    • Turkey meatloaf
    • Chicken stews and roasts
    • Half ground beef/half ground turkey or chicken for some dishes where you really want the red meat flavor (or as you wean yourself and your family)
  • Make desserts healthier and more energizing
    • Fresh fruit with a tiny touch of whipped cream
    • Applesauce
    • Sliced apples with a drizzle of honey or caramel sauce
    • Hot Cocoa following an after dinner walk 
  • View our recipes and share yours

We would love to hear your ideas on how to make cold weather more fun and more productive for the health of the family! Send recipes too! Contact Us

INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY RATINGS

EASE OF USE Extremely easy! Take the cards out of the box, place them in stacks and get playing! The first time through you’ll have to read the directions just to be sure you pick from the correct piles - but once you have that down (green, red, then blue!) you’ll be good to go. When closing up, it was a little tough getting the cards back in the box, but nothing a quick retry couldn’t fix.

DURABILITY The cards are a bit larger than a standard deck of playing cards, making them easy to hold and read. They are apparently well-made out of a heavy card stock. Additionally, they’re portable and compact - easy to take with you wherever you go (could even play at the park or grandma’s house!).

VISUAL APPEAL The primary colors on the reverse side of the cards are bold and pleasing - the images on the game side are cute and get the point across. Also, our reviewers noted that the cards will appeal to both sexes as there is nothing that screams “girl” or “boy” on any of them. While there’s not too much to look at when it comes to this category - the cards do not have anything that would turn our panel off!

FUNCTIONALITY Our reviewers are still raving about Exercards - no joke! They LOVE the idea and the message. Kids have the opportunity to combine motor skills, patterns, consonants and vowels all while getting in some much-needed exercise. The game can be competitive - but doesn’t have to (you’d have to have your own paper or scorecard to keep points if you really wanted to). Our panel felt this was the perfect gift to donate to any elementary school classroom.

COST EFFICIENCY As we arrived at the Cost Efficiency Category, our reviewers were hoping that this wonderful new product they had the opportunity to review wasn’t going to blow the budget - so they were extremely pleased to find out that the cards are priced at exactly their guess of ten dollars! Reviewers stated, “These are so worth the investment!”

ORIGINALITY Have you ever seen anything like it? Our reviewers hadn’t! With childhood obesity on the rise, our reviewers were happy to find that a company like Get Kids Moving is out there trying to find a fresh, innovative way to get kids up and exercising. Our reviewers were determined that if all elementary school teachers had these they’d have no problem finding a way to introduce exercise in their classrooms every day!

OVERALL RATING

To read the entire WTS review visit their website.

WTS (What The Stuff!) Toy review does not charge for their reviews and seeks to provide consumers with truly valuable information for the sake of their families. WTS has reviewed some top notch and highly recognizable products. Be sure to visit their website for even more good information about toys for your family.

Get Kids Moving! helps families get healthy, stay healthy, be healthy by sharing information and products designed to to just that. GKM! is located in the Cleveland, Ohio area.

Find out more about Exercards

FREE SAMPLES EXERCARDS

Back-to-school shopping is for some a sad reminder of summer’s end being far too near, for others an exciting adventure anticipating new discoveries, and for everyone a simple necessity. As a parent, when helping your kids find all their school supplies, don’t forget a few important items that will support their health throughout the school year. The next in our series of back to school supplies is the…

Back Pack Recent research suggests that at least 50% of school aged kids will experience lower back trouble and pain during their youth; it is believed that one major cause of this upswing in youth back issues is the improper use of a school backpack. The range of trouble from an ill-fitted backpack goes from back pain, to muscle strain, to nerve impingement. This can lead to serious issues down the road, if kids go on year after year without regard to proper portage of their weighty supplies. Some pointers for keeping growing spines healthy and stress free:  

• Show kids how to pack the backpack so the weight is distributed evenly.
• Make sure they use both shoulder straps and don’t sling the entire pack over one shoulder.
• If the backpack has a waist strap (good idea), use it. This keeps the load as close to the back as possible.
• If they like the one shoulder messenger bag, have them switch shoulders half way through their walk.
• Prioritize what will go in the backpack, so that it’s overall weight is no more than 15% of the child’s body weight (a good math lesson too!).
• Teach kids to lift the pack using their legs (bend at the knees and don’t use your back to get the pack off the ground) when lifting a heavy backpack from the ground.
• Choose a backpack with reflective stripes for higher visibility at night; remember, daylight is longer when the school year starts, but many kids will be walking in a dark morning or evening during the bulk of the year.

Help your kids stay healthy throughout their school years and into their adulthood by choosing and using backpacks appropriately.
A good place to start your search for the right backpack is at the GKM Amazon Store.